Europe: Organic Farming in Europe 2012

Organic Farming in Europe 2012

HELGA WILLER1
In 2011, the area of organic land, the number of organic farmers and the organic market
continued to grow in Europe. Provisional figures for 2012 indicate that these positive
developments have continued.
Current statistics
In Europe, organic agricultural land exceeded the ten million hectare mark in 2010, and
in 2011, 10.6 million hectares, constituting 2.2 percent of the agricultural area, were
under organic agricultural management. There were more than 290000 producers. The
area of organic land in 2001 was 5.4 million hectares and so has doubled since then,
while the number of producers has increased by 70 percent. The total value of the
European organic market in 2011 was 21.5 billion euros and the overall growth rate was
approximately nine percent. For details see chapter on European organic farming
statistics (page 215) and the European market (page 224).
Two projects with relevance to organic farming statistics: OrganicDataNetwork and ICOPP

In January 2012, the new European research project OrganicDataNetwork (European

Data Network for Improved Transparency of Organic Markets) started. It is expected to
be a significant step toward improving European market data. The project aims to
increase the transparency of the European organic food market through better
availability of market information about the sector, thus meeting the needs of policy
makers and actors involved in organic markets. The partnership will act as coordinating
centre between stakeholders, and will result in a proposal for the establishment of a
permanent network to achieve collaboration on statistical issues regarding organic
market data. The first of the two planned stakeholder workshops will take place in
March 2013.2 For more information see also article by project coordinator Raffaele
Zanoli in this volume (page 230).
A second project of interest is called Improved Contribution of local feed to support
100% Organic feed supply to Pigs and Poultry (ICOPP).3 One part of the project is the
assessment of the current protein supply and the protein demand in European organic
agriculture. To that end, the current feedstuff production, imports, and exports are
assessed along with the protein needs. The results of this survey should be available by
the end of 2013.
EU regulation on organic farming and related issues
Organic farming has had legal protection in the European Union since the beginning of
the 1990s with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. On July 20, 2007, a completely
1

Dr. Helga Willer, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse, 5070 Frick, Switzerland,
www.fibl.org
2
Information on the project Improved Contribution of local feed to support 100% Organic feed supply to Pigs
and Poultry (ICOPP) is available at the project website www.organicdatanetwork.net.
3
Information about the project is available at the project website www.organicresearchcentre.com/icopp/.

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Europ
pe: Organic Fa
arming in Euro
ope 2012

revvised organicc regulation was

w published
d: Council Reggulation (EC) No 834/200
07 of 28
Ju
une 2007 on organic pro
oduction and labelling of organic products and reepealing
Reegulation (EE
EC) No 2092//91, came into force on January 1, 2009.
2
The new rules
include the man
ndatory use of
o the EU orgaanic logo on prre-packaged organic
o
products. The
loggo can be acccompanied byy national or private logoss. The organicc logo of the EU has
beeen mandatorry since Julyy 1, 2010 on all pre-packaaged organic products that were
prroduced in anyy of the EU Member
M
Statess and meet thee necessary sttandards.
On
n February 15, 2012, at BioFach
B
Germ
many, Europeaan
Co
ommissioner Dacian Ciolo
os for the Eurropean Union
ns
(EU) Agriculturre and Rurall Developmen
nt and Depuuty
Seecretary Kathlleen Merrigan
n of the U.S. Department of
Aggriculture sign
ned the organ
nic equivalencce arrangeme nt
beetween the w
worlds two largest
l
markeets for organ
nic
food. Since the publication of
o the agreemeent, quite a feew
ob
bstacles, prooblems and instances of misleadin
ng Figure 78: European Unionn: Logo
for organiic products. The Euro
lan
nguage were identified byy the sector, and
a IFOAM E
EU leaf desiggn shows the EU stars in
feeeds into thee discussions between EU
U officials an
nd the shape of a leaf against a green
Am
merican officcials. For mo
ore informattion about th
he backgrounnd conveying thee
aggreement, seee articles byy Beate Huber et al. oon message: Nature and Europe.
Standards and Regulations (page 140) and
a Barbara Haumanns chapter
c
on th
he USA:
(page 282).
A review of tthe Organic Regulation is currently in progress and the Eu
uropean
Co
ommission heeld three hearrings at which
h a wide rangee of stakehold
ders participatted. The
Eu
uropean Unioon Group of
o the Intern
national Fedderation of Organic Agriculture
Movements (IF
FOAM EU) reecommended not to opt foor a total revvision as the organic
IFOAM
sector has just experienced a major revission from 20006 to 2012. Furthermore,
F
EU
U urged the Coommission to
o update the European
E
orgaanic action plaan and to put organic
farrming in the ccontext of thee new policy frramework.
Go
overnment ssupport
Th
he current cyccle of the Com
mmon Agriculttural Policy (C
CAP) in the Eu
uropean Union is due
to end in 2013.. Discussions are now undeerway to refoorm the policyy for the perio
od 2014
to 2020.1 Suppoort has been granted
g
to orgganic farmingg under the Eu
uropean Union
ns agrien
nvironmental programs (Piillar II of the CAP,
C
rural devvelopment) siince the begin
nning of
th
he 1990s.2 IFO
OAM EU streesses the importance of haaving a stron
ng rural development
bu
udget for maiinstreaming sustainable outcomes,
o
inccluding the expansion
e
of organic
food and farmin
ng systems, which
w
can help
p to ensure a real future fo
or rural economies by
prroviding heallthy food, employment
and environ
e
nmental servvices. Final budget
alllocations are eexpected to be defined at an
a EU Summitt in February or March 201
13.
1

Detailed
D
informattion on the Comm
mon Agricultural Policy after 20133 is available at th
he website of the
e
Eu
uropean Commisssion at http://ec.eeuropa.eu/agricu
ulture/cap-post-22013/index_en.httm.
2
Sw
witzerland and D
Denmark introdu
uced support scheemes already in thhe 1980s, and in 1989 Germany
inttroduced supportt for organic farm
ming under what is known as the eextensification prrogram. With the
e EUs
agrri-environmentall programs, this support
s
was extended to all EU coountries (since 19
992). The type an
nd
am
mount of support provided within this program varries within the diifferent EU Mem
mber States. Non-EU
cou
untries have simiilar support schemes.
BL & IFOAM (20133): The World of Organic Agriculture 2013. Frickk and Bonn
FiB

209

Europe: Organic Farming in Europe 2012

Organic action plans are a further important support measure for organic farming. In
2011, 26 countries and regions in Europe had an action plan (Gonzalvez et al. 2011):
many of them with quantitative targets. Austria, for instance, aimed to have 20 percent
organically managed agricultural land by the end of 2010: an aim that was achieved in
2010 when 19.7 percent of the agricultural land was organic. The European Action Plan
for organic food and farming was launched in 2004. The information campaign proposed
in the plan (Action 1, a multi-annual EU-wide information and promotion campaign to
inform consumers, public institution canteens, schools, and other key actors) was
implemented in July 2008. The campaign website offers a wide-range of information on
organic agriculture.
In January 2013, the European Commission announced a public consultation for the
review of the European policy on organic agriculture.1 All citizens, organizations, and
public authorities who have an interest in a review of the European policy on organic
agriculture are welcome to contribute to this consultation. The consultation runs from
January 15, 2013 to April 10, 2013. In this consultation, the European Commission
would like to gather views on how best to develop organic farming. Key issues are:
simplifying the legal framework while ensuring standards are not watered down; coexistence of GM crops with organic farming; better control systems and trade
arrangements for organic products; and impact of the new labelling rules. Other issues
are the European action plan, controls and imports.
Research
Today, organic farming research is substantially funded under national research
programs or national organic action plans, as well as through European projects.2 Even
though no figures for all European countries are available, it is known that the funds of
the eleven countries that are part of the ERA-Net project CORE Organic3 amounted to
more than 60 million euros in 2006 (Lange et al. 2007). Newer data are not available.
Several organic farming research projects have been funded under the framework
programs of the European Commission since the mid-1990s. Furthermore, there are
several European projects that do not have organic farming as their focus but carry out
research related to organic farming. In the Seventh Framework Programme for Research
and Technological Development, launched in 2008, ten funded projects are currently
focusing on organic farming. The main projects are listed here:
-

IMPRO: Impact matrix analysis and cost-benefit calculations to improve

management practices regarding health status in organic dairy farming (20122016), www.impro-dairy.eu

Information on the Consultation for the review of the European policy on organic agriculture is available at
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/consultations/organic/2013_en.htm
2
For a list of organic farming research projects funded by the European Commission, see http://www.organicresearch.org/european-projects.html
3
CORE Organic (Co-ordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming); Internet
www.coreorganic.org. CORE Organic was a three-year coordination action in organic food and farming (2004
to 2007). The overall objective was to gather a critical mass and enhance quality, relevance and utilization of
resources in European research in organic food and farming. It has been succeeded by the CORE Organic II
project.

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Europe: Organic Farming in Europe 2012

OSCAR: Optimising Subsidiary Crop Applications in Rotations (2012-2016),

web3.wzw.tum.de/oscar
OrganicDataNetwork: Data network for better European organic market
information (2012-2014), www.organicdatanetwork.net
Co-Free: Innovative strategies for copper-free low input and organic farming
systems (starting 2012), www.co-free.eu
SOILIBAM: Strategies for organic and low-input integrated breeding and
management, www.solibam.eu
CERTCOST: Economic analysis of certification systems for organic food and
farming, www.certcost.eu
LowInputBreeds: Development of integrated livestock breeding and management
strategies to improve animal health, product quality and performance in European
organic and "low input" milk, meat and egg production (2009-2014);
www.lowinputbreeds.org
Organic Sensory Information System (OSIS) (ww.ecropolis.eu): Documentation of
sensory properties through testing and consumer research for the organic industry,
www.ecropolis.eu;
BioBio: Indicators for biodiversity in organic and low-input farming systems,
www.biobio-indicator.wur.nl/UK
CORE Organic II - Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic
Food and Farming Systems, www.coreorganic2.org

CORE Organic II started in April 2010 and builds on the outcome of the first CORE
Organic project - successfully completed in 2007 - with the aim of building an effective
and sustainable transnational research program. CORE Organic is a network of funding
bodies and has 21 partner countries. CORE Organic's goal is to identify common
research priorities for the organic sector where a transnational approach gives added
value, initiate research projects, organize project monitoring and dissemination of
results, and consider funding models. A call for proposals was launched in 2010, and
eleven projects were selected, covering three thematic organic research areas: Cropping,
monogastric animals and quality.1 A second call was launched in autumn 2011 with two
main focus areas: breeding and market development. One project was selected for each
of the thematic research areas of the second call.2 A CORE Organic research seminar will
take place in the Netherlands on May 15, 2013, and the projects initiated by CORE
Organic II will be presented.
The Technology Platform (TP) Organics (www.tporganics.eu), which was founded in
2008, joins the efforts of industry and civil society in defining organic research priorities
and defending them vis--vis policy-makers.3

Information on CORE Organic II is available on www.coreorganic2.org.

COBRA - Coordinating Organic plant BReeding Activities for Diversity coordinated by Thomas Dring, The
Organic Research Centre, United Kingdom and HealthyGrowth and Healthy growth: From niche to volume
with integrity and trust coordinated by Egon Noe, Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark.
3
The TP Organic vision paper, published in December 2008, reveals the huge potential of organic food
production to mitigate major global problems, from climate change and food security, to the whole range of
socio-economic challenges in the rural areas (Niggli et al. 2008). In February 2010 the Strategic Research
Agenda (SRA), the second major document of the Technology Platform TP Organics (www.tporganics.eu) was
finalized, underlining research priorities and a number of suggestions for research projects (Schmid et al.
2

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Eu
urope: Organicc Farming in Europe
E
2012

Att the end of 2012, TP Orrganics propo

osed amendm
ments for the next EU fram
mework
prrogramme forr research (callled HORIZON
N 2020 and ruunning from 2014
2
to 2020)), which
th
he Industry T
Technology Research
R
and Energy (ITR
RE) Committee of the Eu
uropean
Paarliament app
proved. IFOAM
M EU sees thiis as
a major step toowards obtain
ning fundingg for
orrganic farming research in
n the future. The
neext steps in th
he legislative procedure
p
aree the
pleenary vote off the European
n Parliament and
th
he negotiation
ns with the Member
M
States. TP
Orrganics will coontinue its lo
obby work to ensure that oorganic food and
a farming receives
r
an
n important pllace within th
he European Research
R
Areaa for the next seven
s
years.
Frrom the 24th to the 26th of September 2012, arouund 100 partticipants gath
hered in
Laarnaca, Cypru
us for the Orrganic Days. One day foccused on Orgganic and Low
w-input
Aggriculture. Im
mplementing in
nnovation to respond to E
EU challengess. At the confference,
th
he European C
Commission presented a catalogue of 49 EU research projects on low1
inp
put and organ
nic agriculturee that were fu
unded in the pperiod from 2000-2012.
2
Speakers
prroposed severral topics forr inclusion in
n the Europeaan Innovation
n Partnership
p (EIP)2
A
Agricultural Prroductivity an
nd Sustainabiility, such ass participatoryy plant breeding, the
deesign of agrofforestry systeems for betteer nutrient effficiency, and the developm
ment of
prrocessing meth
hods that preeserve the origginal quality oof the raw matterials.
Su
uccessful pollicy work of IFOAM EU
Th
he European Union Group of the International Feederation of Organic Agriculture
Movements (IF
FOAM EU) caan look back on
o another yeear of successsful policy wo
ork. The
3
activities of the group are very
v
well doccumented in iits monthly newsletter.
n
In
n 2013,
IFOAM EU will celebrate its 10th anniverssary.
Itss work focuses on three areeas:
-

n - to work on
n the implementation and eevaluation of the
t EU organiic
Regulation
regulation EC 834/2007
7 according to IFOAM standdards;

2009). The Implem

mentation Action Plan explains how
w the research prriorities and reseearch topics, identified in
b implemented. A focus is laid on
n funding instrum
ments, research methods,
m
thee Strategic Researrch Agenda, can be
and communication
n of results (Padeel et al. 2010). Maany of the topics covered in thesee documents were
e taken
intto consideration iin recent European calls.
1
The publication A
A decade of EU-fu
unded, low-inputt and organic agrriculture research
h (2002-2012) iss available
h
.eu/research/bioeconomy/pdf/18
89756_2011_26995_a_decade_of_
_eu_en.pdf
at http://ec.europa
2
European Innovattion Partnershipss (EIPs) are a new
w approach to EU
U research and inn
novation. EIPs arre
chaallenge-driven, foocusing on societtal benefits and a rapid modernisaation of the assocciated sectors and
d
maarkets. EIPs act across the whole research
r
and inno
ovation chain, brringing together all
a relevant actors at EU,
nattional and region
nal levels in orderr to: (i) step up reesearch and devellopment efforts; (ii) coordinate
invvestments in dem
monstration and pilots;
p
(iii) anticip
pate and fast-traack any necessaryy regulation and
staandards; and (iv) mobilise deman
nd in particular th
hrough better cooordinated public procurement to ensure
thaat any breakthrou
ughs are quickly brought to market. Rather than ttaking the above steps independen
ntly, as is
currrently the case, tthe aim of the EIIPs is to design an
nd implement theem in parallel to cut lead times. Taken
T
fro
om the website off the European Commisssion, pagge European Inn
novation Partnersships, available at
a
htttp://ec.europa.eu
u/research/innovvation-union/indeex_en.cfm?pg=eiip
3
The
T newsletter of the IFOAM EU Group
G
is availablee at
htttp://www.ifoam.oorg/about_ifoam
m/around_world/eu_group-new/ppositions/newslettters/newsletterss.php

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FiBL & IFOAM (2013): The World of Orga

Europe: Organic Farming in Europe 2012

Agricultural policy - to achieve an effective European organic action plan and to

lobby for a more sustainable Common Agricultural Policy;
Research to lobby for organic farming research as coordinator of the Technology
Platform for organic food and farming and to participate in relevant research
projects, especially in the dissemination of results.

The sixth congress of IFOAM EU was organized in cooperation with Organic Denmark
and held in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 17-18, 2012. With 200 participants,
including high-level speakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament
and the European organic sector, the 6th European Organic Congress took place at
a crucial point in time for the debate on the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).1
The 7th European Organic Congress of IFOAM EU will take place from the 8th to the
10th of July, 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
A second important event for IFOAM EU were the Organic Days in Cyprus in
September 2012: 100 participants gathered in Larnaca, Cyprus. The event was organized
by IFOAM EU, TP Organics, Pasybio - the Cypriot organic association, the European
Commission and the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council, and offered the organic sector
and wider civil society the opportunity to discuss the future of European agricultural and
research policy with researchers and representatives of the European Commission.2
Further reading
European Commission (2010) Commission Regulation (EU) No 271/2010 of 24 March 2010 amending Regulation
(EC) No 889/2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No
834/2007, as regards the organic production logo of the European Union (OJ L 084, 31.03.2010, p.19.)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:084:0019:0022:EN:PDF. Official Journal
of the European Union March 31, 2010.
Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and
repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91
http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2007/l_189/l_18920070720en00010023.pdf
European Commission (2010): An Analysis of the EU Organic Sector. European Commission, Directorate-General for
Agriculture and Rural Development. An analysis of the EU organic sector. Brussels. Available at
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/analysis/markets/organic_2010_en.pdf
European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation (2012): A decade of EU-funded, low-input
and organic agriculture research. European Commission, Brussels, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/pdf/189756_2011_2695_a_decade_of_eu_en.pdf
FiBL: European Organic Farming Statistics. The Organic-World.net homepage, FiBL, Frick at www.organicworld.net/statistics.html.
Gonzalvez, Victor et al. (2011) Organic Action Plans in Europe. In: Willer, Helga and Kilcher, Lukas (Eds.) (2011) The
World of Organic Agriculture - Statistics and Emerging Trends 2011. IFOAM, Bonn; FiBL, Frick
Niggli, Urs; Slabe, Anamarija; Schmid, Otto; Halberg, Niels und Schluter, Marco (2008) Vision for an Organic Food and
Farming Research Agenda 2025. Organic Knowledge for the Future. Technology Platform Organics, Brussels.
Archived at http://orgprints.org/13439/
Padel, Susanne; Niggli, Urs; Pearce, Bruce; Schlter, Marco; Schmid, Otto; Cuoco, Eduardo; Willer, Helga; Huber,
Machteld; Halberg, Niels and Micheloni, Cristina (2010) Implementation Action Plan for organic food and
farming research. Technology Platform TP organics, Brussels.
Schaack, Diana et al. (2012): Development of the Organic Market in Europe. In: Willer, Helga and Kilcher, Lukas (Eds.)
(2012) The World of Organic Agriculture - Statistics and Emerging Trends 2012. IFOAM, Bonn; FiBL, Frick

Information on the congress is available at http://www.organic-congress-ifoameu.org/

A detailed report is available in Newsletter No. 58 of IFOAM EU at
http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/around_world/eu_groupnew/positions/newsletters/pdf/2012/IFOAMEU_newsletter_September_final_.pdf

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Websites
ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013 : Webpages of the European Commission on the CAP reform
www.ifoam-eu.org: European Union Group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture
Movements - IFOAM EU Group
www.ifoam.org: International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)
europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/index_en.htm: The European Commissions organic farming website
ec.europa.eu/Eurostat: Eurostat: Organic farming data: ec.europa.eu/eurostat > Statistics > Statistics A-Z >
Agriculture > Data > Main tables > Organic Farming
www.fibl.org: FiBL Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
www.organic-congress-ifoameu.org: Website of the organic congresses of the IFOAM EU Group
www.organic-europe.net: Organic Europe, maintained by FiBL: Country reports, address database, statistics
www.organic-market.info: Organic Market Info: Market News and updates: www.organic-market.info
www.organic-world.net: Organic World (maintained by FiBL): Statistics, country information, news
www.tporganics.eu: Technology Platform TP Organics

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